Videotron’s Gallic web flicks rival Netflix

Quebec-based quadruple-play cableco Videotron last week launched ‘Illico Club Unlimited’, an online video-on-demand (VoD) service offering the largest collection of French-language television and movie titles in Canada, initially with 800-900 movies and around 20 TV series, costing CAD9.99 (USD9.77) a month, reports the Montreal Gazette. The package is aimed at fighting competition from Netflix (which costs CAD8 a month) and other over-the-top (OTT) content providers in the Francophone Canadian market. Subscribers do not need to be in a Videotron service area nor subscribe to any other Videotron service to sign up for Illico Club Unlimited. Videotron is also making the web-based VoD service available through its new-generation set-top boxes, allowing users to stream package content on their TV without using data allowances on their internet subscription. The latest set-top boxes have been taken up by 500,000 out of 1.46 million digital cable subscribers within less than a year of launch, Videotron added.

Videotron simultaneously announced that it will upgrade cable broadband internet packages by adding unlimited monthly downloads for business users free-of-charge, although the option will cost residential subscribers an additional CAD30 per month or CAD10 a month if subscribing to at least three Videotron services out of TV, internet, home phone and mobile. The unlimited add-ons mirror similar offers recently announced by broadband rivals Bell Canada and Rogers Cable. Videotron will also upgrade upload speeds and data caps on its Ultimate Speed packages, effective 17 April.